We've known for some time that before long, no single racial or ethnic group will constitute a majority of the country. (This year The Root'sBrowner America series sought out a variety of expert perspectives on what this change means and how much it matters — or doesn't — for communities of color.)

The New York Times reports that according to Census Bureau findings released Wednesday, that day will now come a year later than expected, in 2043 instead of 2042. That's when the bureau's analysis of 2010 data predicts that the share of non-Hispanic whites in the country will fall below 50 percent, and America will become a "plurality nation."

So we have an additional 12 months to figure out what to call "minorities" when the term no longer reflects the country's reality. That's unless you agree with what one expert told The Root back in July. He said we already have a term: "American."

[B]y the end of this decade, according to Census Bureau projections released Wednesday, no single racial or ethnic group will constitute a majority of children under 18. And in about three decades, no single group will constitute a majority of the country as a whole.

As the United States grows more diverse, the Census Bureau reported, it is becoming a "plurality nation."

"The next half century marks key points in continuing trends — the U.S. will become a plurality nation, where the non-Hispanic white population remains the largest single group, but no group is in the majority," the bureau's acting director, Thomas L. Mesenbourg, said in a statement.

The new projections — the first set based on the 2010 Census — paint a picture of a nation whose post-recession population is growing more slowly than anticipated, where the elderly are expected to make up a growing share of the populace, and that is rapidly becoming more racially and ethnically diverse. All of these trends promise to shape the nation's politics, economics and culture in the decades to come.